March Fashion 2014

Check out the SF ladies that advanced to the final round of our #7x7Style contest. We're giving a Future Glory Chloe clutch to the three fashionistas who garner the most votes by 3/31/14. It was tough enough narrowing the submissions down to seven, so we're handing the final decision off to our readers. Happy voting!

Tea is the new coffee. So says Jesse Jacobs, 42, the Samovar Tea Lounge owner who’s opening a new concept store on Valencia Street in April, a few doors south of Four Barrel Coffee. Inspired by said neighbor and its ilk, as well as by the lack of easy tea options, the loose leaf evangelist is taking his beloved drink to third-wave level.

The collision of retail and technology has forever changed the way we shop, dress, and think about personal style. Sartorialists with digital chops are racing to cash in with startups from San Francisco to Silicon Valley to Manhattan, but what does it take to succeed in fashion world 2.0?

Spring’s collections are an outlandish hodgepodge of over-the-top texture, pattern, fringe, and color. It’s a level of maximalism perfectly suited to the ferocious individualism and bohemian power of Oakland’s burgeoning artist community. Here are some of our favorite looks:

The legendary restaurateur, cookbook author, and chef (formerly of Aqua, Fifth Floor, and Cliff House) — also known as mentor to Michael Mina— returns from a yearlong hiatus to helm the stoves at the new San Carlos restaurant Gusto.